Jeffrey Butterfield (9 August 1929,

Heckmondwike Heckmondwike is a town in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, West Yorkshire, England, south west of Leeds. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is close to Cleckheaton and Liversedge. It is mostly in the Batley and Sp ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

– 30 April 2004, Wicken, Northamptonshire) was an

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England national rugby union team, England, Ireland national rugby union team, Ireland, Scotland national rugby union team, Scotland, and ...

, Cleckheaton RUFC,

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

and

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be less ...

Rugby player and businessman.

Education and teaching career

Butterfield was educated at

Whitcliffe Mount Grammar School Whitcliffe Mount School is a mixed secondary school located in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, England. History It was established as Cleckheaton Secondary School in 1908 in temporary premises on Brooke Street. The school moved to its current loc ...

, Cleckheaton and Loughborough College, where he took a BSc. in Physical Education in 1951. He later took up a teaching post at Wellingborough Grammar School in Northamptonshire, after which he became a science master at

Worksop College Worksop College (formerly St Cuthbert's College) is a British co-educational independent school for both day and boarding pupils aged 13 to 18, in Worksop. It sits at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest, in Nottinghamshire, England. Founded ...

Rugby career

Butterfield began his senior rugby career with Northampton Saints and played for them 227 times.Northampton Saints Hall of Fame
/ref> In addition to his duties at Northampton he also played 54 times for Yorkshire and captained them in two County Championship finals, in 1953 and 1957. He is considered to have been one of the most gifted centres to have played Rugby for England and was capped 28 times and captained the team four times. He was first capped by England in 1953 against France; here he played with a fellow Northampton player Lew Cannell. Butterfield played for England for 6 years, including 28 successive matches – in his final season he was captain. Butterfield became England's most capped back, and on his watch, England won the Five Nations' Championship four times, the Triple Crown twice and a Grand Slam. As well as playing for

and England, Butterfield is celebrated for his play on the 1955 British Lions tour to South Africa where he scored tries in three of the four test matches. He later toured with the Lions in New Zealand in 1959 but here he was plagued by an injury and was unable to play in any of the matches. Butterfield was influenced as a player by the Bradford Northern Rugby League club whom he used to watch as a child. He used to watch the pre-war international outside half,

Willie Davies Willie Davies (23 August 1916 – 26 September 2002) was a Welsh international dual-code rugby fly half who played rugby union for Swansea and rugby league for Bradford Northern. He won six caps for the Wales rugby union team and nine caps for ...

. Of him, Butterfield said, "Willie always carried the ball in front of him with both hands. Though he always continued to run straight when he passed. I modelled my technique on his." One of the most memorable features of Butterfield's game was his near-perfect timing of a pass.

Later life

After retiring from full-time rugby, Butterfield briefly worked the paint industry and later opened the Rugby Club in

Hallam Street Hallam Street is a road situated in the Parish of St Marylebone and London's West End. In administrative terms it lies within the City of Westminster's Marylebone High Street Ward as well as the Harley Street Conservation Area. Formerly name ...

, London, which he and his wife, Barbara, ran for 25 years.The Daily Telegraph obituary
/ref> Butterfield and his family also enjoyed skiing. His later years were dogged by ill health. Butterfield was President of Milton Keynes Rugby Club from 1972 until his death in 2004 and also had a unique role in developing rugby union in the Cayman Islands.Cotton, Fran (Ed.) (1984) ''The Book of Rugby Disasters & Bizarre Records''. Compiled by Chris Rhys. London. Century Publishing. Butterfield married Barbara Kirton in 1956 and they had one son (Giles).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butterfield, Jeff 1929 births 2004 deaths Northampton Saints players English rugby union players Caymanian rugby union players British & Irish Lions rugby union players from England England international rugby union players Barbarian F.C. players Alumni of Loughborough University Yorkshire County RFU players People from Heckmondwike Rugby union in the Cayman Islands Loughborough Students RUFC players Schoolteachers from Northamptonshire Rugby union players from Yorkshire Schoolteachers from Nottinghamshire Rugby union centres